Journalist targeted by ‘clumsy’ Russian spies says he is ‘lucky to be alive’
Roman Dobrokhotov, an investigative journalist, said the spies were ‘clumsy’ but still ‘dangerous’.
A journalist targeted by a Russian spy ring said he is “lucky to be alive” after being tracked by the group.
Roman Dobrokhotov, an investigative journalist and founder of The Insider, a media organisation which was formerly based in Russia, was targeted by Bulgarian spies based in the UK who were working for Moscow.
Bulgarians Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, were found guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday of spying on an “industrial scale”, putting lives and national security at risk.
In an interview, Mr Dobrokhotov, who was followed across Europe by the spies in November 2022, told the BBC: “I’m very lucky to be alive actually.
“I think assassination was one of the options that they reviewed.”
Asked who he thought ordered he was targeted, Mr Dobrokhotov said he believed it was Russian President Vladimir Putin himself.
He said: “In this dictatorship, you would never take responsibility on your own to do such a political stuff. You will always have a direct order from the president.”
Ivanova, Gaberova and Ivanchev were part of one of the “largest and most complex” enemy operations to be uncovered on UK soil.
They will be sentenced alongside ringleader Orlin Roussev, 47, his second-in-command Biser Dzhambazov, 43, and Ivan Stoyanov, 33, who admitted their roles in the spy ring.
The group were directed by alleged Russian agent Jan Marsalek, 44, an Austrian businessman wanted by Interpol after the collapse of German payment processing firm Wirecard.
Mr Dobrokhotov told the BBC the spies were “clumsy”, but he was still concerned for his safety.
During the trial, the court had heard how another investigative journalist Christo Grozev was also targeted after he exposed Russian links to the Novichok poisoning and the downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane in July 2014.
He was followed from Vienna to a conference in Valencia in Spain, with Ivanova able to get close enough on the plane to record the PIN number on his phone with a camera on the strap of her bag after the spies acquired his flight manifest.
Marsalek discussed kidnapping Mr Dobrokhotov by boat, the trial was told.
“The risk was that me and Christo (Grozev) would be killed,” Mr Dobrokhotov told the BBC.
“And the fact that the spies were very clumsy doesn’t mean anything.
“You know because in the case of the Skripal poisoning they also did all the possible mistakes and behaved in a very stupid way but they still poisoned Skripal and his daughter and murdered a UK citizen.
“The fact that they are very, very unprofessional, very clumsy, very stupid, still doesn’t mean that they are not dangerous.”
The three defendants made no reaction as the verdicts were delivered on Friday.
Mr Justice Hilliard KC remanded the defendants into custody until sentencing between May 7 and May 12.
